You recently stayed in a hotel in a large city. The weather was very unusual for the time of year and the heating/cooling system in the hotel was quite inadequate. Write a letter to the manager of the hotel. In your letter: - give details of what was wrong - explain what you had to do to overcome the problem at the time - say what action you would like the manager to take
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam,Dear Sir, I have just returned home after spending three nights at your hotel in Paddington. The staff were very friendly and the location was extremely convenient. However, I feel I must express my disappointment withabout the room. As we all know, London is experiencing a very warm summer this year, with temperatures around 30 °C last week, which is quite unusual. As a result, it was very hot in my room on the sixth floor. Because of the extreme heat in the room, I had to leave the windows open all night and so it was very noisy, as the hotel is on a main road and the traffic never stops in London. Consequently, I got very little sleep over the three nights. I think it would be a good idea to install an air-conditioningairconditioning system in the hotel. This could also be used for heatingused as a heating system in the winter and would certainly make the rooms more comfortable. Perhaps you would consider giving me a discount if I come to your hotel again. I look forward to hearing from you. , [Your name]Yours faithfully
Why this response received Band 8.0
The complaint is clear, appropriately formal, and fully explains the excessive heat, the need to keep the windows open, and the remedies sought. Its main weakness is presentation in a single dense paragraph; separating the problem, its consequences, and the requested action would improve readability, while correcting the isolated spelling error and making the request for compensation slightly more explicit would further polish the letter.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter fully covers the problem, the temporary response, and the action requested while maintaining a suitably formal complaint tone.
State the desired discount more directly and specify what form of compensation would be considered satisfactory.
Coherence and Cohesion
The information follows a clear cause-and-effect sequence, and cohesive devices guide the reader effectively through the complaint.
Separate the opening, problem and consequences, and requested remedies into distinct paragraphs for easier reading.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is precise and varied, particularly in describing the weather, discomfort, traffic noise, and proposed remedy.
Correct the isolated spelling of air conditioning and retain the same precision throughout the requests.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex clauses and varied sentence forms are controlled accurately throughout, with punctuation supporting clear meaning.
Vary a few repeated coordination patterns to make the already accurate sentence structures more stylistically flexible.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You recently stayed in a hotel in a large city. The weather was very unusual for the time of year and the heating/cooling system in the hotel was quite inadequate. Write a letter to the manager of the hotel. In your letter:
- give details of what was wrong
- explain what you had to do to overcome the problem at the time
- say what action you would like the manager to take
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.